The Film

Welcome to the official website for the documentary film Grounds for Resistance by Lisa Gilman.

In November 2008, a group of U.S. veterans opened COFFEE STRONG, a coffee shop located outside the gates of the U.S. Army base Fort Lewis in Washington. Inspired by the Vietnam-era G.I. coffee house movement, Coffee Strong provides a safe space where service members, military families, and veterans can drink coffee and discuss issues, such as their experiences of war, deployment concerns, the hardships of life in the military, and veteran benefits.

Members of Coffee Strong–most of whom were deployed one or more times to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and all of whom are under the age of 30–provide G.I. rights counseling and direct people suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, sexual assault, discrimination, recruiter abuse, and medical and legal problems to the appropriate resources. They also provide counseling for those seeking options for leaving the military early, including entry-level, dependency, hardship, medical, psychological, and conscientious objection. Visitors to Coffee Strong read books from the free library, use the free computers with Internet access, explore literature on war and imperialism, and enjoy special events, such as punk rock shows and movie nights.

This fifty minute documentary film is about Coffee Strong: its importance for its most active members, active duty soldiers and their families, veterans of recent and past conflicts, and regional and national political movements. At the center of the film are the men and women whose experiences in the military and war compel them to commit themselves to help others who are serving or have served in the past. Each individual featured in the film exists within a nuanced tangle of conflicting emotions tied to pride, dedication to service, friendship, anger, disillusionment, sadness, and guilt. The film examines each one’s stories from their decisions to join the military, their experiences of war, and their motivations for devoting themselves to Coffee Strong. It explores how their relationships with one another and their activist efforts to make a more peaceful and just world help them cope with their own experiences.

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31 Responses to The Film

I was at your presentation at SEM in LA in November and wanted to thank you for that and your work in general. I was involved in a few things with the Shelter Half and Pacific Counseling Service in Tacoma in the early ’70s and hope to check in with Coffee Strong some time soon.

You’re the first person to find my website! How exciting. The film is almost finished, but not quite ready to be screened. It will be screened in Olympia on May 14, and some of the people featured will be there for Q&A. You might really enjoy coming down for that. You could visit Coffee Strong on the way. As soon as I have the specific details about this event, I will post on this site.

In the meantime, I am finishing up final editing and figuring out how to duplicate and package it. Once I’ve done that, it would be great if you would plug it on your website. I’m also going to be counting on folks around the country to organize screenings, so if you’re interested in either organizing something public in Seattle or hosting something more private, that would be great.

That’s neat that you were involved with Shelter Half. I’ve met a few other people at Coffee Strong who were involved in Shelter Half who now live in Seattle. I just looked at the Harmonic Dissidents website. Very fun!

My neighbor, Jill Friedberg, is Corrugated Films http://www.corrugate.org/. Her recent work has been on Oaxaca and before that on the WTO in Seattle. She knows a bit about promoting indy video, and of course she is always busy.

She added the English subtitles to “Sigueme Contando” (about 3/4 down the home page on our website, http://www.harmonicdissidents.org/) for us and gave me some advice on duplicating the DVD. If only I could remember it . . . something like “don’t get it duplicated, get it copied. ” Or vice versa. Anyway Pip McCaslin at RealTime in Seattle has a good reputation and he was easy to work with. I’m sure there are a lot of places that can copy and package DVDs.

If you want, you can track Jill down at her website or I could hook you up.

Lisa, how thrilling to find your website! Do you have any posters that I can put up at the Library? At the very least I can pin up a few in the break room and the common area for patrons. Looking forward to seeing all of your hard work on the big screen!

Hi Wendy. How thrilling to have people find the website! Posters are being made as we speak. I’ll get some to you once I get them. I’ll also be sending out an announcement over email in the next day or two that you can send out to folks that you think might be interested. And soon (hopefully this weekend), I’ll post a trailer on the website and on youtube — gotta figure out how to do all of this.

Totally looking forward to seeing and promoting this film! Please add me to your list of folks to keep updated. our chapter of Civilian Soldier Alliance down here in the Bay Area will definitely host some screenings.

Thanks for getting in touch. After the May 14 screening, I’ll devote my energies to duplication and packaging, after which the film will be available for purchase and other screenings. I’ll be in touch when that happens! How did you hear about it?

I went to your movie “Grounds for Resistance” at the Capitol Theatre in Olympia last night (4/14/2011). It was a very moving event. Please notify me when you have the final release of the DVD video, I would like to buy a copy.

Just wanted to let you know I saw your film the other night in Olympia, and loved it. I’m an OIF vet that returned last year, and have been going through some of the things the guys at the shop and in the film have. Until recently, when I walked into CS for the first time, I’ve had some trouble defining how I felt, and whether or not I should even feel that way, but I can say your film really hit the nail on the head. It’s so to the point that I could just show it to someone rather than trying to explain how I feel, and they’d understand me, as well as so many other vets experiencing the same things. Great job.

An excellent and unique film! “Grounds For Resistance” both explores the pressures and stresses that young veterans and soldiers contend with on a daily basis and highlights an inspiring form of activism on the ground. The interviews with the Coffee Strong’s founders, staff, and supporters are in-depth, personal, and very moving. The film does a great job at drawing the viewer in to each story and experience.

Thanks to the young veterans, too, who drove down from Washington to answer questions about the film. It was much appreciated.

Thanks for getting in touch. You’re in the film and on my list of people to send a copy to once its finished. Its in the process of being duplicated; I should have the copies in about one week. Please send me your mailing address to my email: lisa.m.gilman@gmail.com and I can send you a copy. If you also email me a phone #, I’ll call you about arranging a screening.

This is amazing to see! A film about Coffee Strong! I am currently deployed and have had my art work in two of their vet art showcases! I am going to have a copy of the film sent to my home so it will be waiting when I get back. I am stationed at Fort Lewis. All the volunteers there are awesome! Thanks for making a film about such a great coffee shop!

I postponed watching the DVD of this film until I could watch it with a friend because I was afraid it would be depressing. It wasn’t. I found the film to be sad, hopeful, informative, and thought provoking. Several conversations on the topic have come up with with frtiends in the few days since I saw it. The young veterans show great intelligence and insightfuless. My friend who watched it with me commented at the end–“that is an excellent piece of journalism. It makes me want to contribute.”

Does the DVD have English subtitles or closed captions?
This is important to me because I am hard of hearing, but from experiance at showing films to community groups I find that many normal hearing people also make use of written cues, such as people for whom English is a 2nd language and people who sit near the back where the film is being shown. For documentaries of this sort understanding the words is especially important.
If the DVD does not already have English subtitles and if you would like it to, let me know. We might be able to do something about that.

The film does not have subtitles, but I would be very interested in creating some. Some people have also expressed interest in having it translated, and making English subtitles could be a first step. I’m curious what you mean by “we might be able to do something about that”?

I do some film making with Raven Productions and probably could add English subtitles if I had access to the video and audio files used to create the DVD (I edit in Final Cut Studio Pro). If you have a transcript, I might be able to add the subtitles at a very reasonable cost (e.g. free or perhaps a cup of coffee). If that would help, let me know.

Hello Lisa,
A friend just sent me notice of the availability of your film. When I looked at the trailer, I was instantly reminded of so many conversations with active duty GI’s during Vietnam war. I spent about five years doing support work with my singing during those days, all over the map, and fondly remember the great people at the Shelter Half. I’m 85 now, and don’t get around well, but your trailer made me want to get right out there again.. Imagine what seeing the whole film will do! I’m ordering a copy of the DVD and can’t wait to see it. I’m deeply grateful for your persistence in getting this film made, because of the young lives it will help to save and the young minds and hearts it will help to heal. Warmly, Barbara Dane

Thanks for your order. I put a copy in the mail to you this morning. Sad that this type of activism continues to be necessary. You’ll see a nod to the Shelter Half in the film. Let me know what you think.